Daughter of Bronx woman badly injured in hit and run calls for driver to come forward

Madeline Bengochea, 48, is clinging to life at Jacobi Medical Center after she was hit by a driver who fled the scene Monday night in the Bronx. (Facebook)

The daughter of the hit-and-run victim left clinging to life at Jacobi Medical Center after being mowed down in the Bronx Monday night is calling on the driver to come forward and confess.

"Just be honest with yourself and who you are as a human," begged Kimberly Salva, 20, daughter of Madeline Bengochea, who was hit by a speeding car on her way home from a trip to the supermarket. "I'm pretty sure if it was his mother at the other end, he would want an explanation."

The fun-loving mother was struck walking home from the grocery store across the street from her home on Williamsbridge Road near Hone Ave. in Allerton shortly after 8 p.m.

Cops said Bengochea, 48, was hit by an older model white sedan traveling northbound. She was not in the crosswalk when she was hit, police said. Emergency personnel rushed her to Jacobi Medical Center where she remained in critical condition Tuesday, cops said.

Surveillance video shows Bengochea ambling across the two-way street behind her walker in the middle of the block. She appears to be walking cautiously as a first car passes her from the left, and then a second and third car passes her from the right.

She was just about to cross the double yellow line when she was clobbered by a speeding sedan coming from the left as she looked to her right. The car never came back.

Bengochea was just about to cross the double yellow line when she was clobbered by a speeding sedan coming from the left as she looked to her right. The car never came back.

Bengochea was leaving Paradise Food Market, where Salva works, after going grocery shopping Monday night. Salva was home and not working at the time. She said her mother uses a walker because of nerve damage to her feet caused by diabetes. The trip to the grocery store is the farthest she travels alone, her daughter said.

Bengochea had been a custodian before she went on disability, about 10 years ago.

"I got a phone call from my boss," Salva said. "She didn't want to tell me over the phone. When I answered, I had to kind of get it out of her. When she told me, I dropped everything and I ran over here," she said. "I couldn't believe it. I still can't believe it.

"It's still unreal to me," Salva said. "They didn't stop what-so-ever. They had no mercy."

Salva said Bengochea is sedated.

"We could speak to her, she listens, she doesn't really respond," her daughter said. "I just love her a lot and she has to be strong and pull through."